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RECOMMENDED ODDS & ENDSA small selection of essential releases from other labels, selected for import by Radio Khartoum because they were otherwise unavailable in the North American market. | |||
 | CESSNA: Time Ticks RemixesAmuri Air (Finland) “Time Ticks Away” is the rainy-day synth and acoustic guitar hybrid from Terminus. While on the album the song is rendered with moody restraint, this 12" unleashes the song’s synthpop potential with a very respectful remix (they used to do them like this, didn’t they?) courtesy of analog outfit Nu Science (whose Mikko Ojanen has frequently joined Cessna on keys over the years, in addition to producing the new album). The “handmade” version is Tomi Cessna’s original home recording, radically different from what the song would evolve into, but a lovely item all the same. Flipside remix by Sami Koivikko breaks things down in a dub way: modern and chill. This 12" is a self-release by the band.
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 | GYPSOPHILE: AssuntaLenka lente (France) Languid and intense, atmospheric songs from France, Assunta is the sixth full length album from Gypsophile and marks a further progression away from the nocturnal bedroom bossa of the early records and toward what songwriter Guillaume Belhomme calls “chanson free.” Based in acoustic guitar, bass clarinet and light electronics, and guided by the vocals of Belhomme and Marine Livernette, “Assunta” (assumption, ascension) is perfect music for the small hours of the night. Quiet, but not exactly mellow: Belhomme’s “free chanson” ascends into dissonance at just the right moments...a delicious unease. To be taken alone or with good friends and a good glass of your favorite libation. Tasteful 6 panel digipak.
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 | GYPSOPHILE: Les profils des domesLenka lente (France) Guillaume Belhomme’s Gypsophile began life as a French answer to the bossa influenced pop of A&M acts like Chris Montez, Pisano & Ruff, and Claudine Longet or to his then contemporaries: Blueboy. Gypsophile’s music has always oozed with a continental sensibility. From 2001’s De loin, les choses onwards, Gypsophile has been charting new, twilit territory: somewhere between classical, folk and jazz. Where 2002’s Éloquence des fatigués was a something of a disappointment, Les profils is a liberation: Belhomme makes more with less. A feast, in fact. It is his most intimate and most confident work to date. With greater emphasis on instrumentals (three pieces at the center of the album, as well as the exquisite passages that transport us from one vocal to the next), Belhomme has created an album of remarkable coherency in which it’s frequently impossible to say where one piece ends and another begins. Although less “pop” than before, Les profils embodies the mythical “continental” spirit as much as ever. You romantics who have overdosed on Satie, Duras and Crépuscule should give this a try. Self-release: professionally printed CDR in heavy (and textured) paper wrap-around cover which appears to have been printed on an ancient ink-jet printer: I actually kind of like the way the defective kerning of the text on the back of the cover adds to the home-made feel, as if it were typed on an old manual typewriter... More info? Check the review at splendidzine.com
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 | THE HEPBURNS: Trojan HearseBendigedig Recordings (Wales) You want to know what this album is about? First you have to appreciate the beauty not of Federer’s ‘Backhand’ or of his five-set win over Nadal to take his fifth Wimbledon title—no not the beauty of that—but of his decline, his downward arc, his plimsolled feet as they descend towards the ground. Ladies and gentleman I give you a toast… To the latter-day Icarus; to the middle-aged man, his arithmetical cage, struck dumb by the songbird half his age To hairstyles ruined by the rain and the view from down the drain The unwelcome guest, the reluctant host; all the ghosts from California to the Baltic Coast! Trojan Hearse. For drunks, cyclists and drunk cyclists everywhere. —Matt Jones
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 | THE MAMS: Wam Bam!Gonzo/Muso (Wales) I was so confident I would hate The Mams. Now I’m sure my friends will hate me for loving this. There’s zero fashion going on here, but the record oozes cheese AND charm. The hooks are more than adequate (and more than plentiful) and the whole affair is suffused with a self-deprecating wit no American could ever touch. Plus it’s got handclaps galore and a paean to handbag disco that is—how should I put this?—infinitely more sympathetic than The Kink’s “Lola.” And infinitely groovier. Livers and loafing also figure prominently. The trio on the recording purports to include former members of Tan Tro Nesa (1980s Welsh TV’s answer to The Monkees), Idha, and The Hepburns, as well as a High Llamas fellow traveller, but don’t let that discourage you...
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 | MICROMARS: MetroS.H.A.D.O. Records (Italy) Micromars is the space-age bachelor post-pop identity of Norwegian one man band Christer Jensen. In Metro, Christer blends 80’s analog sounds with 60’s melodic sensibilities—warbling analog synthesizers meeting airy vocals, sambas and drones - to create his most ambitious release to date. French film samples, found sounds from NASA, farfisas, vocoders and distorted Stratocaster merge into bossanova shuffles that go charging through the Pan-Am air terminal. Micromars wields his sonic palette skillfully while never forgetting the importance of original melodies—the key to this album. A few friends show up here as well, including Magnus and Christoffer from Remington Super 60/Nice System, whose vocals and guitars (respectively) pepper various tracks throughout the album. As a bonus, the tail end of the album features three remixes, nicely executed by Her Space Holiday, Valvola and the ever wonderful Safariari.
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 | DIE MOULINETTES: Alpha Bravo CharlieS.H.A.D.O. Records (Italy) The second album from Claudia, Barbara and Kiki, and where their first had an almost too stylish cover and one definite hit, this outing packs the musical substance that the first one merely promised. Marina’s loss is S.H.A.D.O.’s gain. A very solid album which touches on Morricone, Lalo Schifrin and Lio, Barbarella and The Love Boat, with homages to Rubik cubes and teenage Brooke Shields as a pinball wizards. 8 songs in English, Italian (presumably in honor of their new label) and German (‘cause the Moulis are from Munich...a big town on the RK musical map). Followed by 8 remixes featuring Stereo Total, Maxwell Implosion, Erobique (ace!), The High Llamas (fortunately Sean doesn’t sing!), Valvola, Electric Sheep, and DJ Me DJ You. The CD of this one is sold out at RK, however I actually think this is a record you want on vinyl, since there are some very DJ-able cuts among the remixes.
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 | NEOANGIN: ScratchbookLieblingslied Records (Germany) Another healthy dose of cartoon angst and off-brand bargain keyboard brilliance from Jim Avignon. RK loves Neoangin. 26 songs in 50 minutes, plus a 100 page, CD-sized hard cover book of artwork and lyrics. Genius! Inoculate yourself.
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 | NEOANGIN: Unhappy HouseJim Avignon (Germany) Congratulations: You have just succeeded to the highest level. Or so I thought at one point while listening to this CD. Neoangin deals in cliches, including video games. Everything is familiar, accessible, and friendly. And simultaneously fierce. In short, Neoangin turns everything sideways with his imperfect English and tech junkyard production values, crafting perfect miniature-pop gems and maybe even prompting us to reexamine some cliches along the way. Which makes Berlin artist Jim Avignon aka Neoangin one of Radio Khartoum’s international favorites. Unhappy House is Jim’s seventh album, but it’s only the second one that RK has managed to get a supply of. It’s yet another self-released number. Gatefold paper sleeve plus 24 page booklet. Happy overdosing.
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 | ORCHESTRA DU SOLEIL: Laboratoire MondialSloflo Music (Germany) Second album by the dreamy and wonderful Orchestra du Soleil. It’s quite a bit like the first one, which is OK with me, since that was probably my favorite release of 2000 (and definitely my favorite record for napping/falling asleep to so far this decade). This one is a bit punchier, a bit more angular. The interludes are more abstract this time (no summer day lake noises). But basically it’s just waves and crescendos of tripped out, multi-layered pop and airy harmony. Something vaguely late 60s/early 70s about the affair, and yet timeless too. With this guy who sounds like Louis Philippe’s earthy brother crooning on top. Oh, and Carl from Merricks is involved, so how could it go wrong?
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 | ORCHESTRA DU SOLEIL: A Summerday by the LakeS.H.A.D.O. Records (Italy) For you popkids who only like sugar, stay away from this record. But if you fancy honey now and then, this is an album you can sink into. Laid back and trippy, this is an aquatic excursion with a lovely ebb and flow. Paced with interludes and plenty of musique concrete, the soundtrack builds to waves of multi-layered summer pop which overtake you before you realize what’s happening. Louis Philippe stoned out of his mind? Perhaps not the best description (Stefan’s voice does remind of Louis’, however), but this is a wonderful record to play while you’re falling asleep. We found out about this record through the Merricks connection, as Carl Oesterhelt (also of FSK and Carlo Fashion) is part of the trio. If it is possible to be elegant and spaced out at the same, Orchestra du Soleil have created the blueprint. Sweet dreams!
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 | ORWELL: Le génie humainTwin Fizz Records (France) My favorite album yet from Jérôme Didelot aka Orwell. Pop par excellence, Le génie humain is packed with orchestral maneuvers, soaring synths, and silky, buzzy goodness that bring Eggstone, Louis Philippe and the space bossa moments of Testbild! to mind. With influences running from the early 60s through the early 80s, Jerome’s songs have a folk-like delicacy, but sail on intricate arrangements featuring strings, voices, woodwinds and keyboards galore. Le génie humain features collaborations with Médéric Gontier (Tahiti 80), Alexander von Mehren, JP Nataf, Ruth Minnikin (Heavy Blinkers), Miss Aprilia Sari (White Shoes and the Couples Company) and Julien Lonchamp (Jack and the’), among others. Recommended for fans of all of the above, plus Julien Ribot, Fugu and High Llamas.
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 | REMINGTON SUPER 60: Go System Go!Cafe Superstar (Norway) A trifle from our friends in Norway, but a beautifully crafted trifle. Five or so years in one of Norway's top studios have made a master pâtissier of Christoffer Schou. The melodies are light, the instrumentals are triumphant, and the production is generously sprinkled with masterful touches like layered choral and organ harmonies, or a vocal masked—at the threshold of perception—behind a lead guitar. It's been asked before, but I'll ask it again: Do you know the way to Fredrikstad? Indeed!
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 | RUDOLF ROCKER: Rabbiting With Richard DidoMook Records (UK) First new album in ages from Leeds’ Rudolf Rocker. Jaunty guitar and drum machine pop, a bit UK 80s but with some continental affectations. I’m thinking Wolfhounds, Monochrome Set, Wedding Present...getting quirky, or maybe a crazier Hepburns. Who else would sing about stagecoach hold ups, big-chinned celebrities, and being pursued by an egg-shaped percussion instrument? Oh, you’re wondering about the name, Rudolf Rocker? He was a writer and prominent figure in the anarcho-syndicalist movement of the early 20th Century…
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 | RUDOLF ROCKER: RousseauMook Records (UK) An oddball gem that just kept floating back to the top of my 45s. Although from 1997, this single nails a certain 80s aesthetic so well that nobody noticed when I sneaked the A side into a postpunk mix made for friends a few years back, neatly sandwiched between The Slits and Club Tango. Maybe the Frenchy accordions and the stuck “bossanova” button on the drum machine should have tipped people off? The vocal is pure Mark E. Smith, whereas the music is more in the vein of early/prime period Monochrome Set at their most exotic and berserk. There’s a bit of spy theme business going on, too, and a delightful overdose of flexi-tone keyboard action on the B-side’s chorus.
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 | SAFARIARI: Save New YorkCafe 2001 (Norway) An electronic gem from 2001, which got lost in a horrible shuffle that had nothing to do with the music (if you really must know the sordid details, click here). Plone/Cornelius style electronics & wizardry, and a good infusion of house, sci-fi, Beach Boys (via Magnus from Remington Super 60/Nice System on vocals)...all in all a highly dynamic trip. Safariari also contributes an ace remix to the Micromars album on S.H.A.D.O. This is the original edition from Cafe 2001, as opposed to the dubiously renamed "Zebra Knights" on Trust Me.
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 | WATOO WATOO: le fumalinLes Disques Maladroits (France) French duo Watoo Watoo are back, and with what turns out to be (at long last!) their first proper album. As such, le fumalin pulls together all the band’s experience from their previous efforts for labels Radio Khartoum and Blackbean & Placenta, and builds from there. The basic Watoo Watoo traits are in evidence: Pascale’s airy, lightly melancholic-tinged vocals, jazzy jangle a la francaise, hummingbird twee, and tight little solos—right on the money, as always. The band’s expansion from here takes on two forms. First, in line with the pop world’s increasing openness to non-English vocals, Pascale makes much better use of her native French this time around, reverting to English on only two songs. Second…instrumentation, of course! Lots more…piano, Rhodes, vibes, organ, mellotron, etc. More electronics (check “L’univers etrange,” a standout hybrid of minimal synth work and groovy guitars, as a perfect a backdrop for chanteuse Pascale as you could ask for), more experimentation (check the unexpected conclusion of “Un peu plus loin,” reminiscent of early Rough Trade/Wales experimental pop), and more directions (classic carousel pop, 60s basement groove, chamber pieces, solo piano). As always, Watoo Watoo’s sound takes on a bit from the guitarists that Michael invites (Michael plays everything but guitar), in this case Didier Duclos (aka Christine) and Guillaume Belhomme (aka Gypsophile). Debut release from the new French label Les Disques Maladroits, with two bonus cuts.
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